Proteinases form a substantial group of biological molecules which to date constitute approximately 2% of all the gene products identified following analysis of several completed genome sequencing programmes. Proteinases have evolved to participate in an enormous range of biological processes, mediating their effect by cleavage of peptide amide bonds within the myriad of proteins found in nature. This hydrolytic action is performed by initially recognising, then binding to, particular three-dimensional electronic surfaces displayed by a protein, which align the bond for cleavage precisely within the proteinase catalytic site. Catalytic hydrolysis then commences through nucleophilic attack of the amide bond to be cleaved either via an amino acid side-chain of the proteinase itself, or through the action of a water molecule that is bound to and activated by the proteinase. Proteinases in which the attacking nucleophile is the thiol side-chain of a Cys residue are known as cysteine proteinases. The general classification of ‘cysteine proteinase’ contains many members found in a wide range of organisms from viruses, bacteria, protozoa, plants and fungi to mammals.
Cathepsin K and indeed many other crucial proteinases belong to the papain-like CAC1 family. Cysteine proteinases are classified into ‘clans’ based upon a similarity in the three-dimensional structure or a conserved arrangement of catalytic residues within the proteinase primary sequence. Additionally, ‘clans’ may be further classified into ‘families’ in which each proteinase shares a statistically significant relationship with other members when comparing the portions of amino acid sequence which constitute the parts responsible for the proteinase activity (see Barrett, A. J et al, in ‘Handbook of Proteolytic Enzymes’, Eds. Barrett, A. J., Rawlings, N. D., and Woessner, J. F. Publ. Academic Press, 1998, for a thorough discussion).
To date, cysteine proteinases have been classified into five clans, CA, CB, CC, CD and CE (Barrett, A. J. et al, 1998). A proteinase from the tropical papaya fruit ‘papain’ forms the foundation of clan CA, which currently contains over 80 distinct and complete entries in various sequence databases, with many more expected from the current genome sequencing efforts. Proteinases of clan CA/family C1 have been implicated in a multitude of house-keeping roles and disease processes. e.g. human proteinases such as cathepsin K (osteoporosis, osteoarthritis), cathepsin S (multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune disorders), cathepsin L (metastases), cathepsin B (metastases, arthritis), cathepsin F (antigen processing), cathepsin V (T-cell selection), dipeptidyl peptidase I (granulocyte serine proteinase activation) or parasitic proteinases such as falcipain (malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum) and cruzipain (Trypanosoma cruzi infection). Recently a bacterial proteinase, staphylopain (S. aureus infection) has also been tentatively assigned to clan CA.
X-ray crystallographic structures are available for a range of the above mentioned proteinases in complex with a range of inhibitors e.g. papain (PDB entries, 1pad, 1pe6, 1pip, 1pop, 4pad, 5pad, 6pad, 1ppp, 1the, 1csb, 1huc), cathepsin K (1au0, 1au2, 1au3, 1au4, 1atk, 1mem, 1bgo, 1ayw, 1ayu, 1nl6, 1nlj, 1q6k, 1snk, 1tu6), cathepsin L (1cs8, 1mhw), cathepsin S (1glo, 1ms6, 1npz), cathepsin V (1fh0), dipeptidyl peptidase I (1jqp, 1k3b), cathepsin B (1gmy, 1csb), cathepsin F (1m6d), cruzain (a recombinant form of cruzipain see Eakin, A. E. et al, 268(9), 6115-6118, 1993) (1ewp, 1aim, 2aim, 1F29, 1F2A, 1F2B, 1F2C), staphylopain (1cv8). Each of the structures displays a similar overall active-site topology, as would be expected by their ‘clan’ and ‘family’ classification and such structural similarity exemplifies one aspect of the difficulties involved in discovering a selective inhibitor of cathepsin K suitable for human use. However, subtle differences in terms of the depth and intricate shape of the active site groove of each CAC1 proteinase are evident, which may be exploited for selective inhibitor design. Additionally, many of the current substrate-based inhibitor complexes of CAC1 family proteinases show a series of conserved hydrogen bonds between the inhibitor and the proteinase backbone, which contribute significantly to inhibitor potency. Primarily a bidentate hydrogen-bond is observed between the proteinase Gly66 (C═O)/inhibitor N—H and the proteinase Gly66(NH)/inhibitor (C═O), where the inhibitor (C═O) and (NH) are provided by an amino acid residue NHCHRCO that constitutes the S2 sub-site binding element within the inhibitor (see Berger, A. and Schecter, I. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. [Biol.], 257, 249-264, 1970 for a description of proteinase binding site nomenclature). A further hydrogen-bond between the proteinase main-chain (C═O) of asparagine or aspartic acid (158 to 163, residue number varies between proteinases) and an inhibitor (N—H) is often observed, where the inhibitor (N—H) is provided by the S1 sub-site binding element within the inhibitor. Thus, the motif X—NHCHRCO—NH—Y is widely observed amongst the prior art substrate-based inhibitors of CAC1 proteinases.
Cathepsin K is thought to be significant in diseases involving excessive loss of bone or cartilage. Bone consists of a protein matrix incorporating hydroxyapatite crystals. About 90% of the structural protein of the matrix is type I collagen, with the remainder comprising various non-collagenous proteins such as osteocalcin, proteoglycans, osteopontin, osteonectin, thrombospondin, fibronectin and bone sialoprotein.
Skeletal bone is not a static structure but continually undergoes a cycle of bone resorption and replacement. Bone resorption is carried out by osteoclasts, which are multinuclear cells of haematopoietic lineage. Osteoclasts adhere to the bone surface and form a tight sealing zone. The membrane on the apical surface of the osteoclasts is folded so as to create a closed extracellular compartment between the osteoclast and the bone surface, which is acidified by proton pumps in the osteoclast membrane. Proteolytic enzymes are secreted into the compartment from the osteoclast. The high acidity in the compartment causes the hydroxyapatite at the surface of the bone to be dissolved and the proteolytic enzymes break down the protein matrix causing a resorption lacuna to be formed. Following bone resorption, osteoblasts produce a new protein matrix that is subsequently mineralised.
In disease states such as osteoporosis and Paget's disease, the bone resorption and replacement cycle is disrupted leading to a net loss of bone with each cycle. This leads to weakening of the bone and therefore to increased risk of bone fracture.
Cathepsin K is expressed at a high level in osteoclasts and is therefore thought to be essential for bone resorption. Thus, selective inhibition of cathepsin K is likely to be effective in the treatment of diseases involving excessive bone loss. These include osteoporosis, gingival diseases such as gingivitis and periodontitis, Paget's disease, hypercalaemia of malignancy and metabolic bone disease.
In addition to osteoclasts, high levels of cathepsin K are also found in chondroclasts from the synovium of osteoarthritic patients. It therefore appears that cathepsin K inhibitors will be of use in the treatment of diseases involving matrix or cartilage degradation, in particular osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Elevated levels of cathepsin K are also found in metastatic neoplastic cells which suggests that cathepsin K inhibitors may also be useful for treating certain neoplastic diseases.
In the prior art, the development of cysteine proteinase inhibitors for human use has recently been an area of intense activity (e.g. see Deaton, D. N. and Kumar, S., Prog. Med. Chem. 42, 245-375, 2004; Bromme, D. and Kaleta, J., Curr. Pharm. Des., 8, 1639-1658, 2002; Kim, W. and Kang, K., Expert Opin. Ther. Patents, 12(3), 419-432, 2002; Leung-Toung, R. et al. Curr. Med. Chem., 9, 979-1002, 2002; Lecaille, F. et al., Chem. Rev., 102, 4459-4488, 2002; Hernandez, A. A. and Roush, W. R., Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol., 6, 459-465, 2002). Considering the CAC1 family members, particular emphasis has been placed upon the development of inhibitors of human cathepsins, primarily cathepsin K (osteoporosis), cathepsin S (autoimmune disorders), cathepsin L (metastases), cathepsin B (metastases, arthritis), cathepsin F (antigen processing), cathepsin V (T-cell selection) and dipeptidyl peptidase I (granulocyte serine proteinase activation), through the use of peptide and peptidomimetic nitriles (e.g. see WO-A-03041649, WO-A-03037892, WO-A-03029200, WO-A-02051983, WO-A-02020485, US-A-20020086996, WO-A-01096285, WO-A-0109910, WO-A-0051998, WO-A-0119816, WO-A-9924460, WO-A-0049008, WO-A-0048992, WO-A-0049007, WO-A-0130772, WO-A-0055125, WO-A-0055126, WO-A-0119808, WO-A-0149288, WO-A-0147886), linear and cyclic peptide and peptidomimetic ketones (e.g. see Veber, D. F. and Thompson, S. K., Curr. Opin. Drug Discovery Dev., 3(4), 362-369, 2000, WO-A-02092563, WO-A-02017924, WO-A-01095911, WO-A-0170232, WO-A-0178734, WO-A-0009653, WO-A-0069855, WO-A-0029408, WO-A-0134153 to WO-A-0134160, WO-A-0029408, WO-A-9964399, WO-A-9805336, WO-A-9850533), ketoheterocycles (e.g. see WO-A-02080920, WO-A-03042197, WO-A-WO-A-03024924, WO-A-0055144, WO-A-0055124), monobactams (e.g. see WO-A-0059881, WO-A-9948911, WO-A-0109169), a-ketoamides (e.g. see WO-A-03013518), cyanoamides (WO-A-01077073, WO-A-01068645), dihydro pyrimidines (e.g. see WO-A-02032879) and cyanoaminopyrimidines (e.g. see WO-A-03020278, WO-A-03020721).
The prior art describes potent in vitro inhibitors, but also highlights the many difficulties in developing a human therapeutic. For example, WO-A-9850533 and WO-A-0029408 describe compounds that may be referred to as cyclic ketones (e.g. 1′a-f) and are inhibitors of cysteine proteinases with a particular reference towards papain family proteinases and as a most preferred embodiment, cathepsin K. WO-A-9850533 describes compounds subsequently detailed in the literature as potent inhibitors of cathepsin K with good oral bioavailability (Witherington, J., ‘Tetrahydrofurans as Selective Cathepsin K Inhibitors’, RSC meeting, Burlington House, London, 1999). The compounds of WO-A-9850533 were reported to bind to cathepsin K through the formation of a reversible covalent bond between the tetrahydrofuran carbonyl and the active site catalytic cysteine residue (Witherington, J., 1999). Additionally, the same cyclic ketone compounds are described in WO-A-9953039 as part of a wide-ranging description of inhibitors of cysteine proteinases associated with parasitic diseases, with particular reference to the treatment of malaria by inhibition of falcipain.

The initial cyclic inhibitors of GSK were based upon potent, selective and reversible 3-amido-tetrahydrofuran-4-ones [1′a], 3-amidopyrrolidin-4-ones [1′b], 4-amido-tetrahydropyran-3-ones [1′c], 4-amidopiperidin-3-ones [1′d] and 4-amidoazepan-3-ones [1′e, 1′f] (shown above) [see (a) Marquis, R. W. et al, J. Med. Chem. 2001, 44, 725, and references cited therein; (b) Marquis, R. W. et al, J. Med. Chem. 2001, 44, 1380, and references cited therein; (c) Yamashita, D. S. et al, J. Med. Chem. 2006, 49(5), 1597-1612].
Further studies revealed that cyclic ketones [1′], in particular the five-membered ring analogues [1′a] and [1′b], suffered from configurational instability due to facile epimerisation at the centre situated α to the ketone [Marquis, R. W. et al, J. Med. Chem. 2001, 44, 1380; Fenwick, A. E. et al, J. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2001, 11, 199; WO 00/69855]. This precluded the pre-clinical optimisation of inhibitors of formulae [1′a-d] and led to the development of the configurationally more stable azepanone series [1′e], providing the cathepsin K inhibitor clinical candidate relacatib [1′f]. However, literature clearly states that azepanones are still prone to epimerisation and indeed relacatib [1′f] is reported to exist as a 9:1 thermodynamic mixture of 4-S and 4-R isomers [Yamashita, D. S. et al, J. Med. Chem., 2006, 49(5), 1597-1612]. As an alternative to the ring expansion approach, alkylation of the α-carbon removes the ability of cyclic ketones [1′] to undergo α-enolisation and hence leads to configurational stability. However, studies have shown that α-methylation in the 3-amidopyrrolidin-4-one [1′b] system results in a substantial loss in potency versus cathepsin K from Ki,app≈0.18 to 50 nM.
The cyclic ketone compounds of WO-A-0069855 are considered to be an advance on compounds of WO-A-9850533 due to the presence of the β-substituent on the cyclic ketone ring system that provides improved chiral stability to the α-carbon of the cyclic ketone ring system. However, the compounds of WO-A-0069855 and indeed those of WO-A-9850533 describe a requirement for the presence of the potential hydrogen-bonding motif X—NHCHRCO—NH—Y that is widely observed amongst the prior art substrate-based inhibitors of CAC1 proteinases.
More recent studies have investigated 5,5-bicyclic systems as inhibitors of CAC1 proteinases, for example, N-(3-oxo-hexahydrocyclopenta[b]furan-3α-yl)acylamide bicyclic ketones [2′] [(a) Quibell, M.; Ramjee, M. K., WO 02/57246; (b) Watts, J. et al, Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2004, 12, 2903-2925], tetrahydrofuro[3,2-b]pyrrol-3-one based scaffolds [3′] [(a) Quibell, M. WO02/57270; (b) Quibell, M. et al, Bioorg. Med. Chem., 2004, 12, 5689-5710], cis-6-oxohexahydro-2-oxa-1,4-diazapentalene and cis-6-oxo-hexahydropyrrolo[3,2-c]pyrazole based scaffolds [4′] [Wang, Y. et al, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 2005, 15, 1327-1331], and cis-hexahydropyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrrol-3-one based scaffolds [5′] [a) Quibell, M. WO04/07501; (b) Quibell, M. et al, Bioorg. Med. Chem., 2005, 13, 609-625].

Studies have shown that the above-described 5,5-bicyclic systems exhibit promising potency as inhibitors of a range of therapeutically attractive mammalian and parasitic CAC1 cysteinyl proteinase targets. Moreover, the 5,5-bicyclic series are chirally stable due to a marked energetic preference for a cis-fused rather than a trans-fused geometry. This chiral stability provides a major advance when compared to monocyclic systems that often show limited potential for preclinical development due to chiral instability.
PCT applications WO-A-02057270 and WO-A-04007501 describe bicyclic compounds in which the chirality of the α-aminoketone is stabilised (for a review of energetic considerations within fused ring systems see (a) Toromanoff, E. Tetrahedron Report No 96, 36, 2809-2931, 1980; (b) Eliel, E. L. et. al. Stereochemistry of Organic Compounds, Wiley: New York, 1-1267, 1994). These compounds do not contain the X—NHCHRCO—NH—Y motif and yet the compounds are highly potent inhibitors across a broad range of CAC1 cysteine proteinases. In particular, certain of the compounds are potent and selective inhibitors of a range of mammalian and parasitic CAC1 proteinases.
Recently, Quibell, M. et al (Bioorg. Med Chem. 12, 5689-5710, 2004) disclosed two potent and selective cathepsin K inhibitors having a tetrahydrofuro[3,2-b]pyrrol-3-one core, along with in vitro potency and in vitro selectivity data. Further kinetic parameters such as enzyme association (kon) and dissociation (koff) rates were disclosed, as well as basic physiochemical parameters such as plasma and microsome stability, Caco-2 permeability and LogD (pH7.4) measurements.
More recently, Nilsson, M. et al, WO05066180 disclosed a series of tetrahydrofuro[3,2-b]pyrrol-3-one compounds wherein the specific presence of a halogen at ring position-6 is claimed to provide a marked increase in in vitro potency against human cathepsin K when compared to the unsubstituted equivalent (WO 05066180).
The present inventors have now discovered a small genus of tetrahydrofuro[3,2-b]pyrrol-3-ones distinct from the prior art that exhibit potent in vitro inhibition versus human cathepsin K.